NEW YORK, Aug. 13 (DC Times Online) — Federal prosecutors have charged 11 people in the Southern District of New York with allegedly arranging more than 1,000 sham marriages over more than a decade, the Justice Department announced at a news conference in Washington, D.C.
The defendants — Amy Cheng, Xiao Mei Chan, Christine Lu, Jing Yan Ye, Xiao Yan Chen, Gang Zheng, Anthony Cheng, Michelle Duenas, Angela Duenas, Sigrid Cetino and Erika Johnson — are each charged with conspiracy to commit marriage fraud and immigration fraud, and conspiracy to encourage the unlawful residence of noncitizens in the United States.
The charges are accusations. The defendants are presumed innocent unless proven guilty in court.
What prosecutors allege
According to the indictment summary released by the Justice Department, the alleged network operated from at least 2016 through July 2026. It was based mainly in New York City but arranged marriages in several states and overseas, including Connecticut, Massachusetts, Pennsylvania, Kentucky, Tennessee, Georgia, Florida, China and Vanuatu.
Prosecutors allege that the marriages were arranged to help Chinese nationals apply for lawful permanent resident status, commonly known as a green card. A sham marriage is a marriage entered into primarily to evade immigration laws rather than to build a genuine marital relationship.
The Justice Department said foreign nationals paid facilitators as much as about $100,000 for a marriage and help with the immigration process. U.S. citizens who agreed to participate allegedly received as much as about $30,000, usually in payments tied to stages of a green-card application. Recruiters allegedly received up to about $5,000 for each U.S. citizen they brought into the scheme.
Prosecutors believe the network collected tens of millions of dollars. The indictment alleges that at least hundreds of fraudulent green-card applications and supporting documents were submitted to U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services.
How an alleged sham-marriage operation works
Immigration officials examine whether a marriage is genuine when a foreign spouse seeks permanent residence through the relationship. Applicants may be asked for documents and other evidence showing that the couple shares a real life, such as financial records, household information and photographs.
The indictment alleges that people in the network tried to create that appearance. Prosecutors said the operation used advertising and social media to recruit participants, arranged wedding-related photographs or ceremonies, and in some cases created joint accounts or other records meant to make marriages appear legitimate.
The materials provided to immigration authorities allegedly included false information and documents. The Justice Department has not said how many of the more than 1,000 marriages resulted in approved green cards, or how many people involved in the alleged operation remain unidentified or uncharged.
What the charges mean
The first conspiracy count — marriage fraud and immigration fraud — carries a maximum sentence of five years in prison if a defendant is convicted. The second count, conspiracy to encourage the unlawful residence of noncitizens, carries a maximum sentence of 10 years.
Those are statutory maximums, not sentences imposed in this case. The supplied case information does not show whether any defendant has entered a plea, whether defense lawyers have issued statements, or whether any charges have been dismissed or resolved.
Why the case is being described as unusually large
Attorney General Todd Blanche described the prosecution as involving “one of the largest marriage fraud schemes charged in United States history.” U.S. Attorney Jamie McDonald, whose office in the Southern District of New York is prosecuting the case, described the alleged operation as a nationwide and international, multimillion-dollar enterprise.
The Justice Department’s description supports the claim that the alleged network involved more than 1,000 marriages and tens of millions of dollars. The available information does not provide a comparison with every previous marriage-fraud case, so the exact ranking of the case cannot be independently established from the charging announcement.
The alleged conduct was centered in New York, and the case is being handled in federal court in Manhattan. Washington, D.C., was the site of the Justice Department’s announcement and Blanche’s news conference, rather than a location identified in the supplied materials as a base of the alleged scheme.
